Rogue-like adventures: The Flame in the Flood

[Harri 4815]

So, this is something I wanted to start. I love reading through people's stories of their adventures in Rogue-like games. I don't know why, but it's just rather interesting to me. And I enjoy writing, so why not do this? The first game I'm going to start this with is a new one that just came out on Steam: The Flame in the Flood. It's set in a post - societal America where a great flood (from global warming or something) has created a giant river, and barely any real 'land masses' exist now, most of civilisation being dragged under the water. You have to struggle through to survive nature and somehow defend yourself without any weapons, apart from a few craft-able traps.

Days 0 and 1

Day 0: Sitting around my fire, struggling for warmth, a dog appears before me. It drags with it a backpack, dropping it in front of me. It seems.. that he wants me to take it. Inside appears to be a radio, letting out a very.. fuzzy sound. I can’t quite make out what it’s saying - and almost as if on queue, I’m told to try and acquire a better signal. All of a sudden, I’m thrust into the game - no controls given out, nothing. Clicking around seems to be how to move, easy enough there. Approaching things that are interactable tells me to right click - easy there too. A few signs seem to be around. Basic survival information, how to craft, and the wolves I’ll run into. ****. Wolves? And I can’t even attack them… Just scare them with spacebar - me shaking my torch stick ‘menacingly’. Hopefully, I don’t run into them for a while. Hopefully. The last of the starting zone yields me with a bag with a few worms for food, an empty jar, and a water filter. Scooping up some dirty puddle water, I set off down to the docks and board the ‘raft’ I seem to have. Simply just a mess of planks and scrap metal, seeming to somehow stay afloat is all it really is. As I hop aboard and untie from the docks, my new companion jumps on with me and takes a seat, as we set off down stream.

 

Raft controls are easy enough - hold click where I want to go, don’t bump into things and press spacebar for a quick boost. Well.. I say this as I bump into two or three things.. Instantly falling into the river. Now soaking wet, I don’t look too good, and my raft is already at half health. After getting comfortable with the controls, the sun finally rises and my first full day begins.

 

Day 1: Dripping wet and steadily making my way downstream, I think I’ve finally got the hang of this raft. My turning is better, I’m dodging all the flooded houses and debris around. This is actually rather easy. Or so I thought until I came across the rapids ahead of me. The pace quickly picked up as my camera zoomed in, to show me more of what’s ahead as rocks rushed straight at me. Barely managing to hold my raft together, I finally came across somewhere to stop. It seems to be a simple fishing shack. As I secure my raft quickly to the dock, I hop off and quickly begin exploring. Taking a look around the limited area, I hear a sudden bark and nearly piss myself, assuming I’m already dealing with wolves. Just the dog. He’s barking at a crafting reagent for me to pick up. Some plants in a puddle. After grabbing them, I approach the building a bit more cautiously after my ‘scare’ and check through the boxes and house, not finding much except a few more worms. Still dripping wet from my dip in the river, I decide to rest for a few hours in the house and see what happens. Success! I’ve managed to cure my ‘wet’ de-buff. With nothing else on the small island, I set off on my raft downstream once more. I leave my torch staff thing behind on the dock as I slowly start drifting away, but thankfully my canine pal picks it up and jumps after me, dropping it by my feet.

 

Back on the river, the sun begins to set already (probably due to my nap) and I set sail once more. God, I feel like a pirate now. Passing by a floating car and a barn, I notice.. red eyes glaring at me from the forests on the riverbanks.. watching me. Just.. watching. As I’m starting to grow a bit uneasy, a rather comforting guitar begins to play, as one of the most relaxing and enjoyable songs I’ve heard in a while begins to play. Floating down stream slowly, things begin to get rougher as I nearly pass a campsite, desperately spamming my strong paddle bar to barely dock at it. Luckily, I manage to get in range to right click and lock in.

I hop off, giving my buddy a stroke as I listen carefully into my headphones, seeing what I can pick up. Looking around, I find a few boxes and **** tons of plants. Only to find my inventory is already full. I look into the inventory and see what options I have with each item - one being ‘Move to Aesop’s bag’. Aesop? Quickly looking over my dog friend, I notice a bag on him. I experiment by moving my plants into this section of my inventory, and in response he barks at me. So, Aesop then? Better than just calling him dog. Aesop happily holds onto my things, and goes around barking again. Seems he barks at things I can interact with.. Collecting things on my way to the campfire here, I take a seat and look through my inventory, warming up looking over crafting reagents. I decide I should drink up and chow down for the first time, as both those bars seem to be getting low. Crafting a water filter and combining it with my puddle water, makes it nice and clean so I don’t catch some horrid disease when chugging it, but I’ve not really got anything to make the worms I scavenged taste any better, apart from a grimace. Hydrated and now partly full, another noise makes me jump a bit. Two crows are sitting atop a tree near me, unrelentlessly cawing. After ignoring them for a bit, I finally can’t bear it anymore. Wondering how to make them stop, I walk up to them and try my ‘menacing’ stick wave. Success once more! I manage to make them piss off, and finally leave me in peace, resulting in the option to take a nap at my fire. Laying my head down on my bag, Aesop curls up as I drift off to sleep for six hours, restoring my energy bar.

 

 

[The Womping Wizard 400]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.